System for and method of backing up content for use on a mobile device

ABSTRACT

In accordance with the invention, mobile phones and other electronic devices access content through links, rather than storing the content on the mobile phone or at a location under the control of a mobile phone operator. A user retrieves the content by accessing a link on the mobile phone, which results in transferring the content from a content-provider location directly to the mobile phone. In this way, the mobile phone operator does not have to reserve storage for the content, and the content provider, alerted that the user is restoring or otherwise requesting content, is able to offer the user upgrades, replacement content, and related content. To better offer a user relevant content, a history of purchases for the mobile phone, the user, or both is maintained.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of both theco-pending U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/897,789,filed Jan. 26, 2007, and titled “CONTENT LOCKER, APPLICATION AND CONTENTBACKUP,” and the co-pending U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.60/937,314, filed Jun. 26, 2007, and titled “CONTENT LOCKER, APPLICATIONAND CONTENT BACKUP,” both of which are hereby incorporated by referencein their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is related to transmitting content to electronic devices.More specifically, this invention is related to systems for and methodsof restoring content, updating content, storing equivalent content, andoffering content for mobile devices such as mobile phones.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobile phones and other electronic devices contain ever increasingcontent, with upgrades, equivalents, and other content created for themeach year. Mobile phones, for example, store address books,user-generated content such as digital images, and third-party contentsuch as ringtones, wallpaper, and music files, to name only a few typesof content. Content is not easily restored when the phone isdeactivated. It is difficult for a user to remember what content wasstored on the phone, the correct version of the content for a particularphone, or even where she acquired the content. Even if she can discoverall this information, the process of restoring content to the phone isstill time-consuming, error prone, and tedious.

When restoring content to a phone, the user is also unaware of upgradesto content. Unknown to the user, a content provider may have released anew version of content or an equivalent, more popular version. The usermisses an opportunity to get upgraded, more desirable content, and thecontent provider misses an opportunity to sell, license, or offer asubscription to new content.

Users face these same problems when upgrading to a new phone or otherdevice. The new phone may require different versions of content: asimple transfer of content from the old to the new mobile phone will notwork.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect of the present invention, a method of providingcontent to a mobile device includes determining a source of the content(e.g., a content provider) and transmitting the content from the sourceto a storage location accessible to the mobile device, such as directlyon the mobile device. Preferably, the content is transmitted wirelessly.Mobile devices include, but are not limited to, mobile telephones,personal digital assistants, and personal computers. Content includes,but is not limited to, a mobile application program, a mobile ring tone,a mobile wallpaper, video data, audio data, a digital image, a ring backtone, or a combination of these.

In one embodiment, the method also includes storing on the mobile devicea selectable link for accessing the content on the storage location andstoring data that associates the source with the content, the mobiledevice, or both. This data is used to determine what content has beenacquired for the mobile device and the source (e.g., one or more contentproviders) that can be accessed to retrieve the content. The dataincludes a pathname to the source, such as one containing a UniformResource Locator, and identifiers for the content itself. The data isparsed to determine the source and the content. Preferably, the data isstored on a system remote from the mobile device, so that when themobile device retrieves the content it contacts the system, whichcommunicates with the source to transmit the content to the mobiledevice.

In one embodiment, the source is determined by querying one or morelocations for the content, such as third-party content providers. Thecontent providers respond by transmitting the content (e.g., wirelessly)to the mobile device. In one embodiment, a single aggregation interfaceis used to automatically retrieve content from multiple sources.

In a second aspect of the present invention, a method of accessingcontent from a device includes selecting on the device a link to contentstored on a storage system and automatically receiving the content onthe device in response to selecting the link. The storage system isremote to the device and when the link is selected, a copy of thecontent is transmitted from the storage system to the device.

Preferably, the content is accessed by determining that the content isnot stored on the storage system and then receiving the content on thestorage system. As one example, content is determined to be on thestorage system using a hash. A list containing the hash for each contenton the storage system is maintained. If it is determined that a hash fordesired content is not in the list, it is determined that the content isnot on the storage system and must be retrieved from a content provider.

In a third aspect of the present invention, a method of offering contentfor a first device includes storing a history of acquisitions associatedwith one or more entities and displaying on the first device offers forcontent based on the history. The one or more entities correspond to auser, to a mobile device, or to both. In other words, offers can bebased on what was acquired for a particular mobile phone, for aparticular user, or both. The offers are for purchasing, subscribing to,licensing, upgrading, or replacing content, or any combination of these.

Content is updated, in part, by transcoding or resizing using content inthe history. In one embodiment, the method also includes automaticallyreceiving replacement or updated content on the first device.Preferably, the history is stored at a content provider location but canbe stored at other locations.

In one embodiment, the method also includes polling the content providerlocation for an acquisition associated with the one or more entities,automatically receiving notification from the content provider locationof an acquisition for the one or more entities, storing metadata aboutcontent acquired by the one or more entities, or any combination ofthese. The metadata includes a name for content, a description ofcontent, a size of content, a format of content, an encoding of content,an author of content, or any combination of these. The history includesa count of license usages.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, a method of offeringcontent for a device includes displaying a first list of contentacquired for one or more entities and transmitting one or more items inthe first list to a first mobile device. Preferably, from this firstlist, one or more of the items are selected for storing on the device.

In one embodiment, the first list is automatically transmitted to thefirst mobile device. The first list is displayed, and one or more itemsare selected from it and transmitted to the first mobile device from alocation remote to the first mobile device. The method also includesselecting a second list of mobile devices and transmitting the one ormore items to the mobile devices in the second list. The first list isgenerated from a history of acquisitions associated with a second mobiledevice.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, a method of configuring adevice includes constructing from a first device a link to content on astorage system and storing the link on a second device. Thus, the seconddevice is configured to access the same content available to the firstdevice. Preferably, storing the link includes storing the content anddata for selecting the content. The link, the content, or both arewirelessly transmitted from the storage system to the second deviceduring an initial configuration of the second device. Alternatively, thelink, the content, or both are stored on the second device atpredetermined time intervals.

In a sixth aspect of the present invention, a mobile device includes aclient module containing a link and programmed to access content usingthe link, preferably wirelessly. The client module is programmed todisplay icons for selecting replacement content for replacing contentacquired for the mobile device. The replacement content includes anupgrade to content acquired for the mobile device or a different versionof the content acquired for the mobile device.

In a seventh aspect of the present invention, a content managementsystem for a mobile device includes a first content module containingcontent and a delivery interface programmed to transfer content from thecontent module to a mobile device. The delivery interface is programmedto transfer content from the content module to a mobile device using alink to the content accessible to the mobile device.

The system also includes a data store of acquired content, a replacementmodule for mapping acquired content to replacement content, and aninterface programmed to receive content from one or more sources and topoll the one or more sources to determine content acquired from the oneor more sources. The interface includes a connection module forconnecting to sources using Uniform Resource Indicators to the one ormore sources. In one embodiment, the system also includes a parser forparsing the content to thereby determine the one or more sources.Preferably, the one or more sources are third-party sources.

In one embodiment, the system also includes an offer module forgenerating offers for replacement content on the mobile device. Theoffer module is programmed to transmit data associated with the offersto the mobile device and the mobile device is programmed to display andselect the offers. The offer module is also programmed to generate theoffers from a history of acquisitions for one or more entities such asusers or mobile phones.

Preferably, the system also includes a metadata store containingmetadata about content. Metadata includes information indicating amanufacturer of a mobile device, a version of a mobile device, operatingcapabilities of a mobile device, or any combination of these. Theoperating capabilities include a screen size, a number of pixels, orboth.

In one embodiment, the system also includes a Web-based interfacecoupled to the content manager and programmed to manage the content, amultimedia content data store, a user-generated content data store, andan application data store.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a mobile phone, a platform for restoring content, and acontent provider in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 shows a mobile phone, a platform for restoring content, andmultiple content providers in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 shows metadata stored on the platform in FIGS. 1 and 2 and usedto locate and restore content in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the steps in a process for restoringcontent to a mobile phone in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 shows a display on a mobile device, allowing a user to storeequivalent content on the mobile device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a display on a mobile device, allowing a user to upgradecontent on the mobile device in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing the steps for acquiring equivalentcontent in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show transferring links to content from one mobile phoneto another in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows a display on a mobile phone and icons of different contentand the corresponding links for acquiring the content in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a use-case diagram for restoring/acquiring content inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a use-case diagram for backing up content in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 shows the steps of purchasing content, transferring content,storing information for restoring content in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows user data stored at a content provider in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 14-17 show components for acquiring, backing up, and restoringcontent in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram for acquiring and restoring content inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19A shows an interface for selecting content and configuring one ormore mobile phones to store the selected content, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19B shows the selected mobile phones of FIG. 17A, after beingconfigured to store the selected content, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to restoring,updating, and offering content on electronic devices, such as mobiletelephones, personal digital assistants, personal computers, and thelike.

Different embodiments of the present invention are able to restorecontent to an electronic device in different ways. In one embodiment, alink to content is stored on a mobile phone, allowing the mobile phoneto automatically access multiple content stored at one or more remote(e.g., third-party) locations. In this way, content is accessed andstored on the mobile phone only when needed, thus using memory on themobile phone more efficiently.

Other embodiments ensure continued access to subscribed content, evenwhen the mobile phone is deactivated. For example, when a mobile phoneis deactivated and then reactivated, or when service to one mobile phoneis migrated to another mobile phone, the user is able to seamlesslyrestore access to the subscribed content.

Other embodiments allow a user to substitute content on a mobile device.As one example, when a mobile phone is reactivated, the mobile phone isrestored with an upgrade of content previously stored on the mobilephone or its equivalent. The content provider thus increases itsopportunities to sell to customers content or subscriptions to content,and gives customers opportunities to get the latest version of content.

In general, the present invention ensures the integrity of customerpurchase data, restores already purchased content when a handset isrestored, provides customers the opportunity to upgrade applicationspreviously stored on a handset, conserves bandwidth since content istransferred only when restored on a handset, and allows users totransfer content, upgrades, or equivalent content on new handsets.Content includes, but is not limited to, address book contact data,user-generated pictures and sound recordings, ringtones, wallpapers, andvideos purchased or subscribed from third-party content provides, andBinary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) applications purchasedthrough a Content Provider BREW mobile shop.

FIG. 1 is a high-level diagram of components of a system in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention. The system includes amobile phone 101 coupled to an intermediate platform 110, which in turnis coupled to a content provider 120. The mobile phone 101 contains bothuser-generated and other content 105, such as ringtones, calendars,video images, audio data, wallpaper, etc. The platform 110 stores a userrecord 115 that contains a link to the content 105 at a content provider120. When the mobile device 101 must restore content 105, such as whenit is reactivated or initialized, it notifies the platform 110. Theplatform 110 contacts the content provider 120, identifying the mobilephone 101 and, using the link to the content 105, the content 105. Thecontent provider 120 then transmits the content 105 to the mobile phone101, which restores the content 105.

During device set up, a user purchases or otherwise acquires content forthe mobile phone 101. When the purchase is made, the user record 115 isadded to the platform 110, and the content provider 120 records that theuser (identified, for example, by the telephone number of the mobilephone) has purchased the content. Any license usage counts areinitialized at this stage, so that the user is able to retrieve thecontent 105 only the allowed number of times. An icon is stored on themobile phone 101 to access the platform 110 and thus ultimately thecontent provider 120, as described herein.

Advantageously, the mobile phone 101 and the platform 110 do not requireextra storage for the content 105, storing only links to it. Preferably,content is stored at a content provider, from which the content isretrieved. This structure allows the content provider to keep track ofand notify the user that updates and equivalent content, which aregenerally under the control of the content provider, are available. Thecontent provider 120 is also able to substitute equivalent or updatedcontent when available. In alternative embodiments, the content 105 isstored on the platform 110, from where it is transmitted to the mobile101.

While FIG. 1 shows the mobile device 101 and platform 110 coupled to asingle content provider, it will be appreciated that the mobile device101 is able to contain content acquired from and thus to be restored bymultiple content providers. Thus, FIG. 2 shows a system in which themobile device 101 and platform 110 are both coupled to multiple contentproviders 120A-D, which all function similarly to the content provider120 in FIG. 1. It will also be appreciated that while FIG. 1 shows asingle user record 115, the platform 110 will generally store multipleuser record, for multiple users.

Preferably, the platform 110 is coupled to the multiple contentproviders 120A-D through an aggregator 140, which receives a request forcontent from the platform 110 and routes the request to the appropriateone of the multiple content providers 120A-D containing the contentsought. Alternatively, the aggregator 140 queries all content providers120A-D, and the one content provider hosting the content soughttransmits it to the mobile phone 101. In a preferred embodiment, theaggregator 140 is part of the platform 110; in an alternativeembodiment, the aggregator 140 and the platform 110 are separatecomponents.

It will be appreciated that although FIGS. 1 and 2 show lines directlyconnecting the components (e.g., directly connecting the mobile device101 to the platform 110), the components are preferably coupled over awireless network, or are coupled over a wide area network such as theInternet, over a local area network, or any combination of these.

FIG. 3 shows the user record 115 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. The user record 115 contains an identifier of themobile phone 201 (the phone number, 15555551212), a uniform resourcelocator (URL) of the content provider 203 (contentprovider.com), a nameof the content 205 (Tetris), a classifier of the content 207 (game), aversion number of the content 209 (4.0), a size of the content 211 (500kB), a format for displaying the content on the mobile device 213 (720p1080i), an encoding scheme for the content (JPEG) 215, an author of thecontent 217 (GameMaker), an identifier of the mobile phone 219(PhoneVendor1), and a model of the mobile phone 221 (3.1). Those skilledin the art will recognize that the user record 115 is able to containother metadata, a subset of the metadata shown in FIG. 3, or anycombination of metadata suitable for identifying the content andcommunicating with the content provider 120 to transmit the content tothe mobile phone 101. In operation, the platform 110 parses the userrecord 115 to determine the source (e.g., URL 203) of the contentprovider from which the content is retrieved for storing on the mobiledevice 101.

As discussed above, in one embodiment, the aggregator 140 of FIG. 2polls the content provider locations 120A-D to determine whether theycontain content to be restored to the mobile phone 101. FIG. 4 shows thesteps 250 that each content provider location 120A-D takes in responseto the polling. Referring to the exemplary content provider location120A, first, in the step 251, the content provider 120A receives arequest to restore content to the mobile phone 101. Preferably, therequest includes the telephone number of the mobile phone 101;alternatively, the request includes some other identifier of the mobilephone 101 or some identifier of the user of the mobile phone. In thestep 253, the content provider 120A looks up all the content that hasbeen acquired for the mobile phone 101. In the step 255, the contentprovider 120A determines whether any upgrades are available for theacquired content and substitutes upgrades when available. In the step257, the content provider 120A transmits the content (includingupgrades, if available) to the mobile phone 101. The process ends in thestep 259. It will be appreciated that new content may be resized,reformatted, or otherwise changed to ensure that it performs or isdisplayed properly on the mobile device 101.

In other embodiments, discussed below, if neither previously acquiredcontent nor an upgrade is available, equivalent content is transmittedto the mobile phone 101 in the step 257. In still other embodiments, theuser of the mobile phone is given the option of acquiring an upgrade orequivalent content. FIG. 5 shows the mobile device 101, with a displayoffering content equivalent to what was previously acquired for themobile device 101 (Tetras 3.1) and a selectable link 190 for acquiringthe equivalent content.

FIG. 6 shows the mobile phone 101 offering a list of upgrades, which theuser has the option of accepting or declining.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram 300 showing user data (e.g., metadata) onthe platform 110, updated when equivalent (or upgraded) content istransmitted to the mobile phone 101. Preferably, the user is presentedon the mobile phone 101 with a list from which she can select equivalentcontent. After selecting equivalent content, in the step 301, the mobilephone 101 transmits to the content provider 120 a request for particularequivalent content. In the step 303, the content provider 120 transmitsthe equivalent content to the mobile phone 101. In the step 305, thecontent provider 305 transmits information (e.g., metadata) to theplatform 110 to reflect that the mobile phone 101 has now acquired theequivalent content (e.g., the previously acquired content has beenreplaced). The user record (FIG. 3) is then updated to reflect thatequivalent content has been acquired.

The system must ensure that equivalent or other replacement content isselected so that it is compatible with the mobile device. Thusequivalent content must be selected so that its binary, image size anddevice form factor, and its encoding format are all suitable for themobile device. To this end, content providers (or intermediateplatforms) maintain mapping databases that map content suitable for onedevice to content suitable for another device.

Preferably, a history of purchases, subscriptions, and otheracquisitions are generated for the mobile phone 101. As discussed below,this history is used to determine upgrades or equivalent content for thecontent acquired for the mobile phone 101. Based on this history, theuser of the mobile phone 101 is offered upgrades and equivalent contentfor content previously acquired for the mobile phone 101, as well asoffers for content similar or related to previously purchased content.

It will be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention areable to be used, not only to restore content to a mobile phone, but alsoto migrate content from one mobile phone to another. Thus, for example,a user may upgrade his mobile phone and wishes to transfer content fromthe mobile phone to a new one. FIG. 8A shows mobile phone 101 coupled tothe platform 110, which in turn is coupled to the content provider 120.FIG. 8B shows a mobile phone 350, an upgrade of the mobile phone 101,coupled to the platform 110 and the content provider 120. In oneembodiment, when the mobile phone 350 is first activated, itautomatically communicates with the platform 120. The platform 120 isprogrammed to recognize that the mobile phone 350 is an upgrade of themobile phone 101 and performs the steps of “restoring” contentpreviously acquired for the mobile phone 101 to the mobile phone 350,such as described above. This may occur because, for example, the mobilephone 350 is given the same phone number as the mobile phone 101.Alternatively, the user of the mobile phone 350 identifies herself tothe platform 110 and initiates “restoration” of content, such asdescribed above.

In still other embodiments of the invention, a mobile phone isprogrammed to store content efficiently. In one embodiment, rather thanstore links to content on a remote platform (e.g., platform 110, FIG.1), the mobile phone itself stores links to content. Preferably, thecontent is accessed using one or more icons displayed on the mobilephone. FIG. 9 shows a mobile phone 400 in accordance with one embodimentof the invention. The mobile phone 400 includes a display screen 405showing icons 401 (Tetris), 402 (Chess game), and 403 (Train schedule).Each icon 401-403 has an associated link, 401A-403A, respectively, suchthat when one of the icons 401-403 is selected, its associated link isaccessed, thereby connecting the mobile device 400 to a content providerassociated with the selected content (e.g., a third-party contentprovider) to trigger the content provider to download the content to themobile phone 400.

As one example, the link 401A associated with the icon 401 is the URL,contentprovider.com/tertris/4.0/15555551212, which contains the Webaddress of the content provider (contentprovider.com), the name of thecontent to be retrieved (Tetris), the version of the content (4.0), andthe phone number of the mobile phone (5555551212). When contacted, thecontent provider parses this URL, determines what content to store onthe mobile phone 400, and then, using the phone number of the mobilephone, transmits the content to the mobile phone 400. Preferably, oncethe content is no longer used on the mobile phone 400 (e.g., theapplication is closed), it is removed from the mobile phone 400. In thisway, because the mobile phone 400 does not persistently maintain all thecontent it has access to, it can access content larger than itsavailable memory.

In an alternative embodiment, once the content is retrieved from thecontent provider, it is stored on both the mobile phone 400 and on anintermediate storage location. In this way, any future retrieval of thecontent (which may be deleted on the mobile phone after use) is from theintermediate storage location, which functions as a proxy server. Inthis embodiment, the link 401A is updated to refer to the intermediatestorage location.

In one embodiment, the content is not automatically deleted from themobile phone after it is used. Instead, the content is removed manuallyand remains of the mobile device for future use. Again using the icon401 and its associated link as an example, when the icon 401 isselected, the mobile device 400 is programmed to first determine whetherthe associated content is available on the mobile phone 400. Preferably,the mobile phone 400 stores a hash of the content as part of themetadata about the content. The mobile phone 400 compares this hashagainst the hashes of all other content stored on the mobile phone 400.If the mobile phone 400 determines that it does not contain the content,it will retrieve the content from the content provider, as describedabove. Alternatively, the content is stored on an intermediate platform,which stores and uses a hash to determine available content in a similarmanner.

It will be appreciated that features of each embodiments described inthis application can be used on other embodiments. For example, the link401A is able to include metadata similar to the metadata 200, which alsocontains an address of a third-party content provider (element 203).Similarly, when updating or changing mobile phones, the icons 401-403and associated links 401A-403A are all able to be transferred to the newmobile phone. This may occur during an initial configuration of the newmobile phone.

Use Case Diagrams

FIGS. 10 and 11 are use-case diagrams 500 and 600, respectively, used tomodel backing up and restoring content in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention. The use-case diagrams shown in this applicationuse the well-known labels “uses,” “extends,” and “includes.” To make thediagrams more readable, cases that use the relationship “uses” are leftunlabeled.

Referring to FIG. 10, a mobile device is able to subscribe to anapplication 501, purchase an application 502, end an applicationsubscription 503, delete an application 504, access a “mobile shop” forthe first time 505, and perform a device restore 507. All of the cases501-504 are able to be extended to update a user application statusdatastore 521. The case of performing a device restore is also able todeliver applications to the device 521, deliver equivalent content tothe device 523, deliver user-generated (UG) content to the device 525,and query a user application status datastore 527. From the case ofaccessing a mobile shop for the first time 505, the system is also ableto perform device restore 507.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, any application or content purchase orsubscription is reported to and maintained in the backup systemdatastores. When a restore is initiated, the subscribed applications,application settings, purchased multimedia content, and user-generatedcontent are restored to the mobile device, as described herein.

One popular trigger for a mobile device restore is the initiation of theon-device mobile shop. The mobile shop application can be configured tolaunch the restore process when it is launched for the first time on adevice. Alternatively, a stub application may be preloaded onto thedevice. The stub application will launch shortly after the mobile phoneis activated and provisioned and will prompt the user to restoreapplications and purchased content.

Any business logic desired may be implemented in the client: applicationor content-specific rules may be applied and an appropriate userinterface displayed to the user. Examples of these rules anduser-interfaces include automatic no-fee download and installation ofsubscription-based applications, reduced-fee “repurchases” prompt forpay-per-download applications and content, no-fee download ofoperator-determined number of previously purchased ringtones, specialreduced fees for particular previously purchased ringtones, remindersabout previously downloaded but deleted applications, offers to continuepreviously initiated but subsequently canceled applicationsubscriptions, and simple reminders (or recommended alternativeapplications) detailing what content the user had previously.

FIG. 11 is a high-level use case diagram 600 for application and contentbackup and restore. As shown in the use-case diagram 600, a client isable to restore a phone 601 and backup an application 603. A phone canbe restored by restoring standard data 605, restoring user-generatedcontent 610, restoring premium content 620, and restoring applications640. User-generated content restores 610 can be restored by deliveringuser-generated content to a device, which in turn performs imagetranscoding 613, video file transcoding 614, and audio file transcoding615.

Premium content is restored 620 by getting a purchase premium contentlist 621, delivering premium content to the device 623, and displayingapplication and content specific repurchase user interface 630. Premiumcontent is delivered to the device 623 by looking up equivalent premiumcontent 625 and delivering premium content to the device 627. Premiumcontent is delivered to the device 627 by checking a content deliverypolicy 629.

An application is restored 640 by displaying an application and contentspecific repurchase user interface 630, getting a purchased applicationlist 641, getting a subscribed application list 645, and delivering theapplication to the device 650. Both the cases of getting a purchasedapplication list 641 and getting a subscribed application list 645 areextended by querying the application state database 643.

Applications are delivered to a device 650 by looking up equivalentapplications 651, checking the application delivery policy 653, andupdating the application state database 655.

An application is backed up 603 by registering a purchased application660, registering a subscribed application 665, and backing up multimediacontent 670. A purchased application is registered 660 and a subscribedapplication is registered 665 by updating the application state database655. Multimedia content is backed up 670 by registering multimediacontent purchase, which is extended by updating the multimedia contentstate database 673.

FIG. 12 shows the steps 680 of a process for acquiring content (e.g.,purchase, license, etc.) for a mobile phone in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 12, theprocess starts in the step 681, and in the step 682, the content isrequested. In the step 683, the content is transferred from the contentprovider 120 to the mobile phone 101. In the step 684, the user record115 is stored on the intermediate platform 110. In the step 685, thecontent provider 120 records the acquisition (along with otheracquisitions for the mobile phone 101), used to later restore the mobilephone 101. In one embodiment, the acquisition is recorded in anacquisition table, such as shown in FIG. 13. The process ends in thestep 686.

FIG. 13 shows an “acquisition table” 690 maintained at the contentprovider 120 in accordance with one embodiment of the present inventionThe acquisition table 690 contains a history of a user's pastacquisitions for the mobile phone 101. Individual purchases are storedin individual records of the acquisition table 690. When the contentprovider 120 is later polled, the acquisition table 690 can be used todetermine what content the content provider 120 provided to the mobilephone 101, and thus what content (or equivalents or upgrades) is to berestored to the mobile phone 101.

The acquisition table 690 includes rows 691-694. The row (also referredto as a “record”) 691 is used, among other things, to identify themobile phone 101. The record 691 contains a telephone number 691A(15555551212) of the mobile phone 101, a name (e.g., owner) 691Bassociated with the mobile phone (“Joe Smith”), and an Internet address691C associated with the mobile phone “Address@domain.com”). Thetelephone number 691A, the Internet address 691C, or both can be used totransmit content to the mobile phone 101 in accordance with the presentinvention.

The records 692-694 all contain information about previously acquiredcontent. For example, the record 692 indicates that the game Tetris(692A), version 3.0 (692B), for the phone brand Phonemaker1 (692C) wasacquired for the mobile phone 101. Thus, for example, when Tetris 3.0 ispurchased for the mobile phone 101, the record 692 is added to theacquisition table 690. In a similar manner, the record 693 indicatesthat Chessgame (693A), version 1.0 (693B), for the phone brandPhonemaker1 (693C) was acquired; and the record 694 indicates that theapplication “Train schedule” (694A), version 3.0 (694B), for the phonebrand Phonemaker1 (694C), was also acquired.

It will be appreciated that the acquisition table 690 is onlyillustrative. Those skilled in the art will recognize that acquisitiontables containing other information can also be used in accordance withthe present invention.

Hardware Components

FIGS. 14-17 show components used to implement embodiments of the presentinvention. Some of these components are described below.

Backup Client

The backup client is preloaded on the mobile device and is programmed toimplement the client-side business logic required for an application andcontent backup and restore system. The client's primary function is topresent a user interface to the user which allows the user to backupcontent on the device, and in the case of a device migration or newdevice, retrieve the content to the new device.

Content Delivery Interface

This is a server-side interface that provides programmed retrieval ofthe applications and premium content from a server-side database.Preferably, HTTP with a simple protocol encoded in it is used. Theinterface may also use opaque tokens, such as used with theApplication/Multimedia Purchase and Restore Manager. Preferably, thisinterface is also be programmed to parse metadata to determine thesource of content. Application/Multimedia Purchase and Restore ManagerThis manager interfaces with the application billing system to determinewhich applications a user has purchased, subscribed to, or both, whatequivalent application is appropriate for a given device, and amechanism to push that application to the backup client. Preferably,this manager generates data for offers of new content from user purchasehistories and transmits these offers to the backup client. Preferably,the Restore Manager communicates with the mobile phone using a wirelessprotocol such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

Equivalent Application Mapping Datastore

An extended version of the currently available datastore, which showswhich applications supersede existing applications, and whichapplication binary is appropriate for a given mobile device. Preferably,the mapping database is populated by entries from the content providerswhen they submit content for inclusion on the application/contentcatalog and may be updated as new versions of applications are providedfor new platforms.

“Equivalent” Mapping Datastores

These databases map from a particular piece of content (e.g., “Who Letthe Dogs Out” ringtone) to a number of platform-specific formats. Themapping datastore is utilized by the portability interface to reportwhich instance of a piece of content is appropriate for a givenplatform. Preferably, if a piece of content is not available for a givenplatform, the mapping datastore recommends a substitute contentinstance, if appropriate.

User Generated Content and Application Settings Datastore

Content and application providers provide and maintain mapping andequivalence databases, which contain information allowing the client toretrieve the device-appropriate version of an application or premiumcontent. These datastores are queried at restore time before downloadingan application or instance of premium content.

Premium Content Portability Interface

This is the third-party implementation of a specified interface thatallows the synchronization platform to determine which of thethird-party's content a given user has purchased, metadata about thecontent in question (e.g., ringtone title and description), whichequivalent content should be provided to the device, and a URL that thesynchronization platform can access to retrieve the content from thethird party.

Synchronization Server Platform Components

When contacted by the backup client at restore time, the synchronizationserver connects to each third-party content provider and queries itscontent portability interface to determine which content belonging tothe provider should be restored to the handset. The appropriate contentis retrieved over the same interface and provided to the backup client,which installs it on the handset to complete the restore process.

The synchronization server provides a standardized interface to Websites (such as an operator's customer-facing Web sites), which enablesthe Web site to provide information and actionable interfaces pertainingto the user's content.

Third-Party Mapping Interface

This layer is a conduit that connects to each of the third-party contentsuppliers and uses their interfaces to implement the business logic inaccordance with the present invention. This layer is also able to pollcontent providers to determine what content was provided to a particularuser or mobile phone.

User Purchase History Directory

The content provider purchase history databases are populated by queriesby the server-side components in the course of determining whichapplications may be offered to a user when restoring to the new device.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a backup and restore system 700 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The system 700allows an operator or original device manufacturer (ODM) the ability tomaintain control of the applications and multimedia content and itsdelivery system, while relying on the synchronization server to handlethe details of what is installed on the mobile device (along withuser-generated content). The system 700 includes a mobile device 705(e.g., a mobile phone) coupled to a synchronization server platform 720.The mobile device 705 includes a backup client 709, an applicationdatastore 707, and a multimedia content datastore 711. Thesynchronization server platform 720 includes a content deliveryinterface 721, an application/multimedia purchase and restore manager723, user purchase history datastores 730, multimediacontent/application mapping datastores 740, a user-generated content andapplication settings datastore 751, a multimedia content datastore 753,an application datastore 755, and synchronization server platformcomponents 760.

In operation, when content is restored to the mobile device 705, thebackup client 709 sends a request to restore data to the contentdelivery interface 721. The Application/Multimedia Purchase and RestoreManager 723 queries the user purchase history databases 730 to determinewhat the user has previously subscribed to (using the datastore 731) orpurchased (using the datastores 733 and 735). The manager 723 alsoqueries the multimedia content/application mapping datastores 740 todetermine any equivalent content, and also generates new offers, ifapplicable. The content delivery interface 721 responds to the mobiledevice 705 with a list of content to be restored, including upgrades,updates, equivalents, and new offers, if any. The client 705 respondswith a list of content to be restored. The platform 720 responds withuser-generated content and applications settings (to ensure that thecontent is formatted for use on the mobile phone), as well as themultimedia content (from the datastore 753) and the application (fromthe datastore 755).

Preferably, the content-delivery interface 721 and the backup clientcommunicate using HTTP. It will be appreciated, however, that otherprotocols such as HTTPS (HTTP Secure) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) canalso be used.

FIGS. 15-17 are high-level diagrams of backup and restore systems 800,900, and 1000, respectively, in accordance with other embodiments of thepresent invention. Throughout this application, the same label refers tothe same component. The systems 800, 900, and 1000 provide differentlevels of control over content among the mobile phone operators and thethird-party content providers.

The system 800 in FIG. 15 includes the mobile device 705 coupled to asynchronization server platform 850 and third-party content/applicationcatalog components 810. Preferably, the components 810 functionsimilarly to the intermediate platform 110 of FIG. 1. In the system 800,the operator or original device manufacturer is able to maintain controlof the applications and multimedia content and its delivery system,while relying on a synchronization server platform component 851 tocontrol what is installed on the mobile device 705. The synchronizationserver platform 850 includes an application/multimedia restore manager855, the synchronization server platform component 851, the userpurchase history datastores 730, and a user-generated content datastore860.

The third-party content/application catalog components 810 includes thecontent delivery interface 721, the application datastore 755, themultimedia content datastore 753, the “Equivalent Application” mappingdatastore 741, the “Equivalent Multimedia Content” mapping datastore743, and a third-party mapping interface 845.

As shown in FIG. 15, the client 709 is coupled to theapplication/multimedia restore manager 855 and the content deliveryinterface 721, preferably using an HTTP interface. The synchronizationserver 850 is coupled to the third-party mapping interface 845, alsopreferably using an HTTP interface. In this embodiment, a third-partycontrols equivalent mapping information.

In operation, the mobile device 705 communicates with the contentdelivery interface 721, which recognizes the mobile device 705 by theURL used to request content, such as described above. The components 810store applications and multimedia (755 and 753), from which somerequests for content can be satisfied. When content requested is nothosted on the components, the components 810 determine equivalentcontent, if any, using the mapping data stores 741 and 743, and thencommunicate with the synchronization server platform 850 using thethird-party mapping interface 845. The synchronization server platformresponds by transmitting the requested content, or its equivalent, tothe mobile device 705, such as described above.

FIG. 16 shows a system 900 for backing up content in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention. In the system 900, purchaseinformation, application equivalency, and content delivery are allprovided by a third party. The system 900 includes the mobile device 705coupled to a platform 910 and a third-party content/application catalogof components 950. The third-party content/application catalog ofcomponents 950 is similar to the catalog of components 810, except thatthe user purchase history datastores 730 is included on the catalog 950but not on the catalog 810.

FIG. 17 shows a system 1000 for backing up content in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention. The system 1000 includesthe mobile device 705 coupled to a third-party content/applicationcatalog of components 1010. The third-party content/application catalogof components 1010 is similar to the catalog of components 950, exceptthat third-party mapping interface 845 in FIG. 14 is replaced with acontent/application restore manager 1015, which is coupled to the backupclient 709.

FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram 1100 of interactions between a mobiledevice client, a synchronization platform server, and a contentrepository in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. In thestep 1110, the user starts a routine for acquiring (e.g., purchasing,licensing, taking a subscription to, etc.) content, and in the step1115, the client communicates with the server to register the newapplication, thereby updating the appropriate application datastore inthe step 1120. In the step 1125, the user selects to purchase theapplication, and in the step 1130, the client registers the purchasedapplication on the server, thereby updating the application datastore inthe step 1135. In the step 1140, the user indicates that she is doneacquiring new content, and in the step 1145 the client notifies theserver that the purchasing is complete. The datastore is updated in thestep 1150.

Later, when the device is to be restored, such as when it has beendeactivated and is to be reactivated, in the step 1155, the clientnotifies the server to restore the device. In the step 1160, the devicesends a command to query the subscriptions that have been acquired forthe device. In the step 1165, the server retrieves a list of subscribedapplications, including equivalents, and returns this list to the clientin the step 1170. In the step 1175, the client presents this list to theuser, allowing her to select the content that she wants. In the step1180, the client requests the applications (original, equivalent,upgrades, etc.), which are returned to the client in the step 1185. Inthe step 1190, the applications are installed on the device. In the step1195, the mobile device requests the settings for the applications,which are retrieved in the step 1195 and installed on the device in thestep 1199.

Querying Third-Party Content Providers

As discussed above, third-party content providers support a queryableinterface, which allows the synchronization platform to retrieve, for agiven user, a list of previously purchased content, metadata about itemsin the content catalog, equivalency data about previously purchasedcontent, and a mechanism for retrieving equivalent content on a newhandset.

The list of previously purchased content can include a unique identifierthat the synchronization platform presents to the content provider onsubsequent calls to these interfaces, which provides an instance ofcontent (e.g., “Who Let The Dogs Out Ringtone in MP3 @ 128 kbps).Metadata can include information such as the name, description size, andformat of a particular content item in the catalog. Equivalency data caninclude, given a previously purchased content ID, new content IDappropriate for a given BREW platform ID. A preferred mechanism forretrieving equivalent content includes an interface that returns an HTTPUniform Resource Locator (URL) via which binary data can be retrieved.When this interface is accessed, a third-party content provider canapply any digital rights management (DRM) desired, such as the remainingnumber of downloads allowed. It will be appreciated that mechanismsother than HTTP are able to be used in accordance with the presentinvention.

Third-content providers are able to be queried in many ways. As oneexample, a third-party content provider is queried by accessing it usinga URL that contains the query command. In this example, the URL containsa base URL path (here, “/la/fl cpi”) and a string that includes anoperation code, an operation version number, and a user telephonenumber. The URL has the general form:

https://address/base URLpath/cpi?op=operationcode&v=versionnumber&u=telephonenumberwhere the address is the domain of the third-party content provider.

Thus, for example, if the address of the third-party content provider is“contentprovider.com,” the query is to retrieve a list of user contentpurchased by the user (operationcode=1), the operation version is 1, andthe user is identified by the telephone number 15555551212, then thequerying URL is

https://contentprovider.com/al/fl cpi?op=1 &v=1 &u=115555551212

Accessing the third-party content provider using the URL will returnresults such as a list of persistent, unique content instanceidentifiers.

In another example, the query is to retrieve content details such asmetadata about a particular instance on content owned by a third-partycontent provider. In this example, the querying URL is given as:

https://contentprovider.com/al/fl cpi?op=2&v=1 &cid=A1123897ADFADwhere the operation code is 1 and the operation version number is 1. Thestring A123897ADFAD is the content instance ID in question. Accessingthe third-party content provider using this URL will display thereturned results such as delimiter separated fields containing metadataabout content instances such as content file name, content description,content size, content format description, content encoding description,and content author.

In a similar manner, using an appropriate operation code and associatedparameters, a content portability interface can be queried to return alist of correct equivalent content and to return content URLs usable bythe synchronization platform to download the appropriate version of aparticular premium content item.

Content Migration

Embodiments of the present invention provide an interface forconfiguring or updating mobile devices to access content available toother mobile devices. FIG. 19A, for example, shows a system 1200 thatdisplays icons 1210, 1220, and 1230, corresponding to Tetris, a Chessgame, and a Train schedule application, respectively, and icons 1215,1225, and 1235, corresponding to a first mobile phone (Mobile phone 1),a second mobile phone (Mobile phone 2), and a third mobile phone (Mobilephone 3). As shown on FIG. 19A, by the dotted lines, the icon 1210 isdragged and dropped to the icon 1215, the icon 1220 is dragged anddropped to the icon 1225, and the icon 1230 is dragged and dropped tothe icon 1235. The result of this is that a link to the game Tetris on acontent provider (e.g., a URL), such as described above, is stored onthe mobile phone 1. As shown in FIG. 19B, the icon to the Tetris 401 andthe corresponding link 401A are stored on the Mobile phone 1 and theMobile phone 2, such as shown in FIG. 9. Similarly, an icon to the Chessgame 402 and its associated link are also stored on the Mobile phone 2,and an icon to the Train schedule application 403 and its associatedlink 403A are stored on the Mobile phone 3. Preferably, the icons401-403 and the associated links 401A-403A are transmitted to the Mobilephones 1-3 wirelessly.

In one embodiment, the system 1200 is programmed to receive icons andassociated links from any one of the Mobile phones 1-3. As one example,the system 1200 receives an icon and related link from the Mobile phone1. The icon is then displayed on the system 1200, alone or in a list ofother icons. The icon and associated link are then selected andtransferred to the Mobile phones 2 and 3, as discussed above.

It will also be appreciated that while the system 1200 is programmed totransfer content to mobile phones, the system 1200 can also be used tooffer new content for the Mobile phones 1-3. These new offers can bebased on previous acquisitions for any one or more of the Mobile phones1-3, such as found in purchase history databases discussed above. Thesystem 1200 can be programmed to offer content, list prices for content,and transmit content to mobile phones. In accordance with oneembodiment, links to content are automatically and periodicallytransferred from one mobile device to another so that the two aresynchronized.

In operation, links to content are stored on a platform remote to amobile phone. When content is to be restored on the mobile, the mobilephone communicates with a platform that associates the content with oneor more content providers. The platform contacts the one or more contactproviders, which directly transmit the content to the mobile phone.Replacement content, such as upgrades, equivalent content, relatedcontent, and the like, can be offered to the mobile phone user, who canthen select the replacement content, for a regular fee, a reduced fee,or even for no fee. Replacement content can be determined from a historyof the user's past purchases, which is stored and used for this purpose.

In the operation of other embodiments, a link to content is stored onthe mobile phone; when an icon on the mobile phone is selected, themobile phone communicates directly with the content provider, whichtransmits the content to the mobile phone. In the operation of stillother embodiments, links to content are stored on a central device andtransmitted to selected mobile phones. In this way, a mobile phone canbe configured so that it can access content previously accessible toanother mobile phone.

It will be appreciated that while many of the examples included in thisapplication refer to mobile phones, other electronic devices are able touse embodiments of the present invention including, but not limited to,personal digital assistants and personal computers.

It will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that variousmodifications may be made to the embodiments without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A method of providing content to a mobile device comprising: determining a source of the content; and transmitting the content from the source to a storage location accessible to the mobile device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage location is on the mobile device.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the content is transmitted directly from the source to the mobile device.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage location is remote from the mobile device.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising storing on the mobile device a selectable link for accessing the content on the storage location.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing data associating the source with the content, the mobile device, or both.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data is stored at a location different from the mobile device and the storage location.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising parsing the data to thereby determine the source.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein the data comprises a pathname to the source.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the pathname comprises a Uniform Resource Locator.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the source comprises querying one or more locations for the content.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the locations are third-party content providers.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying an icon corresponding to the content on the mobile device; and selecting the icon to thereby automatically transmit the content from the source to the storage location.
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically retrieving the content from multiple sources through a single aggregation interface.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the multiple sources comprise third-party content providers.
 16. A method of accessing content from a device comprising: selecting on the device a link to content stored on a storage system; and automatically accessing the content on the device in response to selecting the link.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the storage system is remote to the device.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein selecting the link comprises transmitting a copy of the content from the storage system to the device.
 19. The method of claim 16, wherein accessing the content comprises: determining that the content is not stored on the storage system; and receiving the content on the storage system.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the location corresponds to a third-party content provider.
 21. The method of claim 19, wherein determining that the content is not stored on the storage system comprises determining that no content on the storage system has a hash that matches a hash of the content.
 22. The method of claim 16, wherein the device comprises a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a personal computer.
 23. The method of claim 16, wherein the content comprises a mobile application program, a mobile ring tone, a mobile wallpaper, video data, audio data, a digital image, a ring back tone, or a combination of these.
 24. A method of offering content for a first device comprising: storing a history of acquisitions associated with one or more entities; and displaying on the first device offers for content based on the history.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the one or more entities correspond to a user.
 26. The method of claim 24, wherein the one or more entities correspond to a mobile device.
 27. The method of claim 24, wherein the offers are for purchasing, subscribing to, licensing, upgrading, or replacing content, or any combination of these.
 28. The method of claim 27, wherein updated content comprises content that is transcoded or resized from content corresponding to the history.
 29. The method of claim 24, further comprising automatically receiving replacement or updated content on the first device.
 30. The method of claim 24, wherein the history is stored at a content provider location.
 31. The method of claim 30, further comprising polling the content provider location for an acquisition associated with the one or more entities.
 32. The method of claim 30, further comprising automatically receiving notification from the content provider location of an acquisition for the one or more entities.
 33. The method of claim 24, further comprising storing metadata about content acquired by the one or more entities.
 34. The method of claim 34, wherein the metadata comprises a name for content, a description of content, a size of content, a format of content, an encoding of content, an author of content, or any combination of these.
 35. The method of claim 24, wherein the history comprises a count of license usages.
 36. A method of offering content for a device comprising: displaying a first list of content acquired for one or more entities; and transmitting one or more items in the first list to a first mobile device.
 37. The method of claim 36, wherein the one or more items are transmitted in response to selecting the one or more items.
 38. The method of claim 36, further comprising transmitting the first list to the first mobile device and selecting on the first mobile device the one or more items.
 39. The method of claim 38, wherein displaying the first list, selecting the one or more items, and transmitting the one or more items are all performed at a location remote from the first mobile device.
 40. The method of claim 36, further comprising selecting a second list of mobile devices and transmitting the one or more items to the mobile devices in the second list.
 41. The method of claim 36, wherein the one or more items are transmitted to the first mobile device automatically.
 42. The method of claim 36, wherein the first list is generated from a history of acquisitions associated with the first mobile device, a second mobile device, or both.
 43. The method of claim 42, wherein the first and second mobile devices are different.
 44. The method of claim 42, wherein the first and second mobile devices are the same.
 45. A method of configuring a device comprising: constructing from a first device a link to content on a storage system; and storing the link on a second device.
 46. The method of claim 45, wherein storing the link comprises storing the content and data for selecting the content.
 47. The method of claim 45, wherein the link, the content, or both are stored on the second device during an initial configuration of the second device.
 48. The method of claim 45, wherein the link, the content, or both are stored on the second device at predetermined time intervals.
 49. The method of claim 45, wherein the link, the content, or both are wirelessly transmitted from the storage system to the second device.
 50. The method of claim 45, wherein the second device comprises a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a personal computer.
 51. A mobile device comprising: a client module containing a link configured to access content and programmed to access the content using the link.
 52. The mobile device of claim 51, wherein the content comprises a mobile application program, a mobile ring tone, a mobile wallpaper, video data, audio data, a digital image, a ring back tone, or any combination of these.
 53. The mobile device of claim 51, wherein the client module is programmed to access the content by requesting a copy of the content.
 54. The mobile device of claim 53, wherein the client module is also programmed to display icons for selecting replacement content for replacing content acquired for the mobile device.
 55. The mobile device of claim 54, wherein the replacement content comprise an upgrade to content acquired for the mobile device or a different version of the content acquired for the mobile device.
 56. The mobile device of claim 51, wherein the client module is programmed to wirelessly retrieve the content using the link.
 57. The mobile device of claim 51, wherein the mobile device comprises a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a personal computer.
 58. A content management system for a mobile device comprising: a first content module containing content; and a delivery interface programmed to transfer content from the content module to a mobile device.
 59. The system of claim 58, wherein the delivery interface is programmed to transfer content from the content module to a mobile device using a link to the content accessible to the mobile device.
 60. The system of claim 58, wherein the content comprises a mobile application program, a mobile ring tone, a mobile wallpaper, video data, audio data, digital images, a ring back tone, or a combination of these.
 61. The system of claim 58, further comprising a data store of acquired content.
 62. The system of claim 61, further comprising a replacement module for mapping acquired content to replacement content.
 63. The system of claim 58, further comprising an interface programmed to receive content from one or more sources.
 64. The system of claim 63, wherein the interface is also programmed to poll the one or more sources to determine content acquired for the mobile device from the one or more sources.
 65. The system of claim 63, further comprising a parser for parsing the content to thereby determine the one or more sources.
 66. The system of claim 63, wherein the one or more sources are third-party content providers.
 67. The system of claim 63, wherein the interface comprises a connection module for connecting to sources using Uniform Resource Indicators to the one or more sources.
 68. The system of claim 63, further comprising an offer module for generating offers for replacement content on the mobile device.
 69. The system of claim 68, wherein the offer module is programmed to transmit data associated with the offers to the mobile device and the mobile device is programmed to display and select the offers.
 70. The system of claim 69, wherein the offer module is also programmed to generate the offers from a history of acquisitions for one or more entities.
 71. The system of claim 70, wherein the one or more entities comprise a user.
 72. The system of claim 70, wherein the one or more entities comprise a mobile phone.
 73. The system of claim 63, further comprising a metadata store containing metadata about content.
 74. The system of claim 73, wherein the metadata comprises information indicating a manufacturer of a mobile device, a version of a mobile device, operating capabilities of the mobile device, or any combination of these.
 75. The system of claim 74, wherein the operating capabilities comprise a screen size, a number of pixels, or both.
 76. The system of claim 63, further comprising a Web-based interface coupled to the content manager and programmed to manage the content.
 77. The system of claim 63, further comprising: a multimedia content data store; a user-generated content data store; and an application data store.
 78. The system of claim 63, wherein the mobile device comprises a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a personal computer.
 79. A method of storing content for use on a device comprising: storing content on a storage system accessible to the device; and storing a link on the device for automatically accessing the content.
 80. The method of claim 79, wherein the link comprises metadata about the content and a locator to the content on the storage system.
 81. The method of claim 80, wherein the storage system is on the device.
 82. The method of claim 80, wherein the storage system is remote to the device.
 83. The method of claim 82, wherein the locator to the content comprises a Uniform Resource Indicator.
 84. The method of claim 79, further comprising displaying on the device a digital image for selecting the link.
 85. The method of claim 79, wherein the content comprises a mobile application program, a mobile ring tone, a mobile wallpaper, video data, audio data, a digital image, a ring back tone selected on a module different from the device, or any combination of these.
 86. The method of claim 79, wherein the device comprises a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a personal computer. 